Fruit tree

“ THE FRUIT TREE. A FRUIT tree sprang up from a seed in the corner of a certain man’s field. It grew rapidly and put forth branches. Great was the man’s delight when he saw these bearing blossoms.
“Now I shall have fruit of my own,” he said.
Autumn came and the fruit appeared, but as it ripened, instead of growing round and rich and mellow, it grew knotted and hard and bitter to the taste.
“’Tis because it is young and the soil where it stands thin and poor,” the land-owner said.
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Then he loosened the ground around its roots and enriched and watered it, and afterward waited for spring. ”

“ This mingling, in the most friendly manner, of the old forest trees with familiar fruit trees introduced from distant lands and laden with golden fruit, is a most beautiful sight. The fruit trees stand their ground even against the most aggressive shrubs, and it is often no easy matter to reach the ripe hiding fruit in the dense network of branches thrown around and between the branches of the imprisoned tree. What a blessing these acid fruits are to the natives, sweltering under the rays of the tropic sun! ”

“ All the year round these fair trees are heavy with fruit; summer and winter the soft breath of the west wind sways the trees and ripens the fruit. Pears and apples wither on the branches, the fig on the fig-tree, and the clusters of grapes on the vine. ”

“ Each tree yields three, sometimes four, crops annually; and as there are in these isles about fifty recognised varieties, which ripen at different seasons, it follows that, with a little care in cultivation, the supply might very easily be so regulated as never to fail. A large bread-fruit tree in full bearing is certainly a most beautiful object, with its wealth of green or yellow fruit hanging from beneath the handsome deeply indented leaves. A good tree will bear several hundred fruits—each about eight inches long by six wide,—with a rough green rind, divided into a lozenge-shaped pattern. ”

“ Where trees are grown for timber, or shade, or ornament, [Pg 305] everything can be sacrificed to the production of wood and foliage. But in fruit-trees wood is nothing and fruit is everything. We push for quantity and quality of fruit; and would not regard the wood or foliage at all, if it were not indispensable as a means of procuring fruit. That is the most skillful treatment of fruit-trees which involves a just compromise between the wants of the tree, and the abundance and excellence of fruit. ”

“ Every boy and every girl who enjoys the eating of a fine apple will wish to know how such glorious fruit, in abundance sufficient to supply the world’s needs, has been produced from such unpromising beginnings as the gnarled little crab trees scattered through the woods, and dwarfed by the larger forest trees that overshadowed them. ”

“ All are great globes of pale gold and surprise one with their size and profusion. How does this close-fibered, tough-wooded tree find in sun and soil the material to produce such fruit? Here is one ten years old that holds by actual measurement twenty boxes, almost a ton, of fruit on a tree that is about fifteen feet high and six inches in diameter at the butt. It is as if a thumbling pear tree in a Northern garden should suddenly take to producing pumpkins and bring forth twelve hundred of them. ”

“ But these lovely cups stand every spring above our heads by millions, their fragrance and form, their color and beauty, unnoticed by the throng. As they mature into the brown fruit-cones that hold the seeds, and these in turn fall to the ground, to fulfil their purpose of reproduction, there is no week in which the tree is not worthy of attention ”

“ Our fruit-Trees prosper abundantly, Apple-trees, Pear-trees, Quince-trees, Cherry-trees, Plum-trees, Barberry-trees. I have observed with admiration, that the Kernels sown or the Succors planted produce as fair & good fruit, without graffing, as the Tree from whence they were taken: the Countrey is replenished with fair and large Orchards. ”

“ In the winter the bark of orchard fruit trees are warm reds and browns and purplish grays, very bright and clean, like wild rose canes. The trunk of an old apple tree may be gray and scaly, butthe higher branches and twigs are bright. ”

“ The principal object to be attained in training a fruit tree is, to make the plant produce as much fruit as possible; and for this purpose the branches are bent backwards and forwards to cause obstructions in the sap, as it is only from places where there is an accumulation of sap that flowers and fruit are produced. Another object in training standard trees is to let the air into the centre of the tree, so that it may ripen the wood ”

“ It is fine-grained, very hard, solid as mahogany, and grows richer with every year of age.
In Europe, the streets and roads are often shaded by fruit trees, the mulberry and the cherry being preferred. In some parts, the public are allowed to help themselves freely. When the fruit of any tree is to be reserved, a wisp of straw is placed around it, which suffices. Upright-growing apple-trees might be employed, with pears and cherries, in our streets and roads, and by their very number, and their abundance of fruit, might be taken away one motive of pilfering from juvenile hands. ”

“ Everybody ought to have one apple tree that bears birds and beasts—and Baldwin apples, too, of course, if the three sorts of fruit can be made to grow on the same tree. But only the birds and beasts grow well on the untrimmed, unscraped, unplastered, unpetticoated old tree yonder between the pastures. ”

“ Fruit trees must be pruned. If a tree in an open field is allowed to go unpruned, the crown soon becomes a dense mass of twigs and interlacing branches. Such a tree may produce as large a number of apples as a well-pruned, open-headed tree, but will there be the same percentage of merchantable fruit? The chief effort of every plant under natural conditions is expended in ensuring its own reproduction. This is chiefly effected by means of seeds. A small apple may contain [418] as many seeds as a large one and even more. ”

“ When I go by this shrub thus late and hardy, and see its dangling fruit, I respect the tree, and I am grateful for Nature’s bounty, even though I cannot eat it. Here on this rugged and woody hill-side has grown an apple-tree, not planted by man, no relic of a former orchard, but a natural growth, like the pines and oaks. Most fruits which we prize and use depend entirely on our care. Corn and grain, potatoes, peaches, melons, etc., depend altogether on our planting; but the apple emulates man’s independence and enterprise. ”

“ This fruit is remarkable for having almost every good quality of tree and fruit and being notwithstanding a third-rate apple. The tree is hardy, its bloom, from peculiar hardiness, escapes injury from frost, and even a second set of blossoms put out, though feeble ones, if the first are destroyed. The fruit is comely, cooks admirably, keeps well; but a certain sharpness and coarseness will always make it but a second or third-rate fruit. No tree is sought by farmers in this region, with more avidity. ”

“ Well-pruned trees allow of an even distribution and uniform development of the fruit. Watersprouts and suckers should be removed as soon as they are discovered. How open the top may be, will depend on the climate. In the West, open trees suffer from sun-scald.
The fruit-bearing habit of the fruit-tree must be considered in the pruning. The pruner should be able to distinguish fruit-buds from leaf-buds in such species as cherries, plums, apricot, peach, pear, apple, and so prune as to spare these buds or to thin them understandingly. ”

“ It is a common thing for us to send to the States for choice fruit, and the pomologist who receives our orders cuts off scions from the best fruit trees, and sends to us the summer, the fall and the winter apples, and we also get the pear, the plum, the cherry and the peach. We graft those various kinds of good fruit into our seedlings, and then the tree produces fruit according to the kind that was grafted into it, and in this way we procure good fruit. ”

“ Having fruited this variety in my own orchard, I can confirm the above, and add:
Tree vigorous, large, spreading, open head, productive, an early bearer.
Fruit large, sometimes very large, beautiful, regular, oblate, not disposed to rot, except when attacked by the birds, which are very fond of it; Surface smooth, pale yellow, partially covered with mixed red, striped and often distinctly splashed with bright red; Dots numerous, gray, prominent; Skin quite thin. ”

“ Apart from the trees which suffer from frosts this is the most favourable zone for tree cultivation in general. All forest trees which resist 10° below zero grow well here, the oak, beech, ash, maple, pine, fir, spruce, poplar, elm, sycamore and such fruit trees as the peach, cherry, plum, apricot, quince, pear and apple tree. ”

“ The bread-fruit-tree is especially interesting, with its deeply serrated, feathery leaves, and its melon-shaped fruit, weighing from three to four pounds. This the natives prepare for eating in many ways, and as the tree bears fruit continually for nine months of the year, it forms a most important food supply. ”

“ The tree is upright with slender wood, which, when loaded with fruit, droops like a willow. It is a healthy tree, ripens its wood early in the fall, and is not subject to frost-blight. It comes early into bearing, is productive and bears every year. The fruit is of medium size though specimens grow large; the flavor is sprightly, subacid, the flesh tender. It has flourished well on sand-loams, common clays, and on strong limestone clay. ”

“ On account of its early and great fertility, the tree is of an inferior size, but loaded with fruit, the mellow pulp of which has a sub-acid taste, and an excellent flavour.
IV. Plantation along the North-side of the Orchard: or Espaliers consisting of fruit-bearing Shrubs.
Although this situation is, on the whole, less favourable to the growth and maturity of fruit, yet every industrious gardener will here also endeavour to cultivate quinces, medlar trees, hazel-nuts, &c. because their productions are subservient to many useful purposes in domestic economy. ”

“ Its alternate leaves, three to five inches long, are variable in form, often irregularly lobed, very veiny, usually rough, blue-green above, pale and pubescent beneath, turning yellow in early autumn. The inconspicuous flower spikes are succeeded by fleshy aggregate fruits like a blackberry, sweet, juicy, dark purple or red, each individual fruit single-seeded. Birds and boys alike throng the trees through the long period during which these berries ripen. They are hardly worthy to rank with the cultivated mulberries as a fruit tree. ”

“ When the heavy cluster of ripe, red fruit hangs under this dark vault, the tree is in its greatest beauty. As the leaves of this palm are not so closely set in the younger specimens as in the older ones, its aspect changes at different stages of growth; the leaves in the younger trees being distributed over a greater length of the trunk, while, in the adult taller ones, they are more compact. ”

“ Perhaps you will find a whole tree on which not a single seed flower grows. This tree may be laden with lovely white flowers in spring, but it will bear no berries in winter. You must have both stamen flowers [Pg 77] and seed flowers if the tree is to produce any fruit.
As summer passes, the seed-vessels, which have had stamen dust scattered over them, become small green berries and these berries turn yellow and then change into a deep red, the colour of coral or sealing wax. The berries cluster round the green stalk, and most beautiful they are among the glossy dark leaves. ”

“ Very charming alleys are sometimes formed of fruit trees—Pear, Apple, Cherry, and Plum making delightful spring pictures, and almost as much so when in fruit in autumn. Where fruit and flower are desired every shoot must be exposed to sun and air. When densely shaded by other growths the wood does not ripen, and therefore flowers badly, if at all. ”

“ The groves of fruit-trees are immense, and no idea can be formed of them, unless we imagine our pear and apple trees of the size of the most gigantic elms. They are generally planted on the gentle slopes of low hills, and the cool and well-shaded paths among them are dry and pleasant to tread. ”

“ According to our observation, this variety produces the finest fruit when planted in soils that abound in lime and are thoroughly drained. In rich alluvial soils, and especially if imperfectly drained, the fruit is frequently spotted and cracked, and deficient in flavor. But on the other hand, when the soil is suitable, the fruit is perfectly developed, fair, smooth, and of high flavor. The tree is a moderate grower, comes into bearing early, and yields abundantly. ”

“ Trees (like other breeding creatures) as they grow in yeares, bignes and strength, so they mend their fruit. Husbands and Houswiues find this true by experience, in the rearing of their yong store. More then this, there is no tree like this for soundnes and dureable last, if his keeping and dressing be answerable. I grant, the readiest way to come soone to fruit is graffing: because in a manner, all your graffes are taken of fruit bearing trees. ”

“ Tree upright, [Pg 391] and the most vigorous growth of all trees cultivated in the West; the easiest of all to bud with, a bud seldom misses, and makes extraordinary growth the first season; it may well be called the nurseryman’s favorite; bears very young, abundantly every year, good on all soils. Fruit medium size, yellow ground with red stripes and the whole overlaid with a bloom, like a plum; tender, juicy, melting, subacid, rich; it has a peculiarity of ripening; it begins at the skin and ripens toward the core; often soft and seemingly ripe on the outside while the inside is yet hard. ”